Teller Cash Recyclers (TCR)

Everything you need to know about Teller Cash Recyclers and their key benefits, technology advancements, product comparisons, and more.

Introduction

The Teller Cash Recycler (TCR) is one of today’s most cutting-edge machines in banking technology. Advancements in TCRs have helped financial institutions improve efficiency and better operations to facilitate more secure and client-centric environments.

As the functionality of these machines has advanced further, TCRs have become a key component in a successful institution’s strategy.

TCRs are machines made up of many moving parts, and trying to break down whether they’re right for your institution can be an overwhelming process. This page serves as a single stop along your journey to TCR implementation that will summarize all the information you may be trying to understand about this cash automation device.

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Why TCRs?

Key Benefits of TCRs

Before we delve further into the technology behind the TCR and how it has advanced the banking industry, we want to break down the key benefits of TCR implementation. If your financial institution is one that wants to streamline branch and drive-through operations while cutting labor costs and receiving a lofty return on investment, the TCR is the perfect cash automation solution for your FI.

  • Increased Transaction Speed and Efficiency: The bottom line is that TCRs are a faster way to handle cash. On average, the TCR saves 30-seconds per transaction, freeing up tellers’ time to handle other important operations.
  • Increased Security: TCRs also reduce the amount of time cash is exposed in the branch. The TCR is a 24-hour vault that keeps cash locked away and secure at any time of day. Especially as more institutions adopt an open-branch concept, TCRs ensure that exposed cash is not traveling about the branch or sitting out in the open prone to robbery or even internal theft.
  • Improved Client Relations: As mentioned, TCRs increase efficiency by saving your tellers time on transactions. With your employees’ time freed up from cash handling, they can more wholly focus on client interactions. This betters their ability to form strong relationships with your clientele as well as opens them up to cross-selling opportunities.
  • Universal Staff Model: TCRs make it that much easier to implement a universal staffing model. Many financial institutions run into the issue of needing more employees capable of handling and balancing transactions during the busiest business hours. Employees in the platform space may be reluctant to count, balance, and close out only to perform a few transactions. TCRs make for an easier more seamless process that doesn’t require as much loading and offloading than traditional cash-handling methods.
TCR inforgraphic offer

TCR Benefits Infographic

This handy infographic will give you a visual breakdown some of the key benefits of implementing cash recyclers in your FI.

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Roll Storage vs. Cassette-Based Storage

Advancements in TCR Technology

Recent developments in TCR technology have shown a shift from roll storage to cassette-based machines. TCRs are likely to have a transit or operational cassette. Both of these cassettes perform the same key functions, though the names for each vary based on the manufactuter.

Increased Functionality

Some of the increased functionality features that cassette-based storage offers are:

  • Efficiency gain: While many financial institutions are most concerned with front-end interactions with customers or members, the transit cassette also boost efficiency for back-end operations as well. TCRs save large quantities of time on opening and closing, allowing you to save on your FTEs and devote time elsewhere.
  • Better cash handling: As mentioned, TCRs are a great tool for limiting the amount of exposed cash in branches at any given time. Cassettes can also be used to offload multiple denominations at a time in a locked cassette, securing transactions across the branch. When paired with other machines like ITMs, TCRs allow tellers to offload cash without exposing any of it.
  • Faster audit process: With a roll-storage TCR, the only way to audit the machine is to empty it and run the cash through a money counter, exposing cash until it’s deposited back into the machine. This typically takes up to an hour or longer. A cassette TCR moves one note out of the machine and back through it automatically. A TCR can audit an entire machine in about 20 minutes and without exposing cash, saving your FI valuable time and preventing security risks.
  • Larger Capacity: Cassette-based TCRs usually have a larger capacity than roll-storage TCRs. Employees do not have to interact with cassette-based machines as often as roll-storage machines to managed the TCRs. Cassette-based storage provides a more efficient solution for adding or removing cash in a more secure way.
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Market Leaders in TCR Technology

Comparisons

QDS is dedicated to finding the right fit for your financial institution's environment. Whether your staff needs advanced technology to perform high-capacity transactions daily or requires a more basic machine to shorten opening and closing times, our products provide a solution for FIs of all sizes.

We work with the top TCR manufacturers in the world to provide you with the best technology available on the market today. Some of the technical powerhouses whose machines we supply include Hyosung, CIMA, LG, and Glory. Take a look at the chart below to learn more about the TCR machines we currently offer.

TCR Comparison Chart 2022

 

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TCR Integration

How does TCR integration work?

Integration Types

1. Core vs. Middleware

The type of integration you choose to implement with your cash recyclers is a key step in your process to ensure success with TCRs. The decision you then make is between Direct Integration or Middleware/Soft Integration. There are pros and cons to both arrangements, and it’s important to understand your environment, size of project and geography to choose the best methodology for success.

Integration image
Core/Direct Integration

2. How It Works

Direct Integration, meaning the teller system itself is giving direct commands to the hardware, often has the fewest steps and feels most simplistic to the tellers operating the device. Most direct integrations update the cash values in the teller drawer and TCR in real-time, but that’s not true in 100% of cases. Direct integration can also limit hardware choices, as maybe the teller system only has “certified” integrations to 2-3 TCRs, which may not include your preferred hardware selection for your environment or vendor you’ve chosen to work with. Direct integration is typically limited to deposit and withdrawal functionality only, so if your hardware has additional functionality like self-audit, inventory management functions with a transit or operational cassette, those may not be available for use in the direct integration limiting overall performance.

Core integration
Middleware Integration

3. How It Works

In the typical Middleware environment, the teller system assumes all cash is coming and going out of the teller’s drawer, and there is a buy/sell ticket that needs to be accomplished at end of day to “true up” the balance with what has been bought from and sold to the TCR. This process on average takes 1-2 minutes at end of day. Middleware often leverages “hot keys” or buttons that tell the Middleware to do something with the teller system. For instance, you might press <F10> or <ctrl-D> for a deposit to tell the TCR “Hey I am ready to deposit cash in.” The TCR counts the cash, shows the amount in the middleware and once the teller accepts it, populates the teller system with denominational totals counted. Middleware will also allow employees who are not directly connected to the unit to do transactions like vault buys, vault sells or one-off platform transactions, which may not be possible in direct integration. Lastly, Middleware allows the TCR vendor to service the whole solution both hardware and software versus relying on the CORE to support any “glitch” or “error” that may come up during a process.

Middleware integration

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TCR Installation

The typical installation of middleware either on network or via USB connection takes roughly 1-2 hours to get setup and configured with your environment. Most times at QDS, we start the hardware and software install in the morning, cash is loaded by lunchtime and we are running live transactions by early afternoon on day one. The files are also easy to replicate, meaning once the setup is configured correctly, IT can grab that set up and replicate it across other branches, which cuts time out of the process at scale.

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TCR Training

The QDS Difference

After our technicians properly install your machines, a QDS training member will train your staff.

The QDS training team member is typically on site for 2 to 2.5 days, working to get your staff comfortable with balancing, new transaction flow, error and jam recovery. The training team members at QDS are former tellers, which allows them to understand the whole body of work and processes that tellers must go through and makes us experts at converting from the manual environment to automated.

During this training time, our on-site trainer is devoted to training your team on TCR hardware before familiarizing tellers with machine operations including sign-in, reporting, ticketing, withdrawals, reports, auditing, and more. Lastly, QDS will teach tellers about troubleshooting the machines and how to use them to improve your clients' experiences.

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At QDS, we believe in listening and asking the right questions to uncover the real challenges organizations face so that we can help them find the best solution.

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